Pennsylvania Protection and Advocacy, v. Houston

• Decision Date: 29 March 2001
• Docket Number: No. CIV.A. 00-CV-4332.,CIV.A. 00-CV-4332.
• Citation: 136 F.Supp.2d 353
• Parties: PENNSYLVANIA PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY, INC.,<SMALL><SUP>1</SUP></SMALL> Plaintiffs, v. Feather HOUSTON, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Department of Public Welfare of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

136 F.Supp.2d 353

PENNSYLVANIA PROTECTION AND ADVOCACY, INC.,¹ Plaintiffs, v. Feather HOUSTON, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Department of Public Welfare of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Defendant.

No. CIV.A. 00-CV-4332.

United States District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania.

March 29, 2001.

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Ilene W. Shane, Stephen F. Gold, Philadelphia, PA, for Plaintiffs.

Thomas J. Blazusiak, Department of Public Welfare, Office of Legal Counsel, N.E. Region, Allentown, PA, for Defendant.

OPINION AND ORDER

VAN ANTWERPEN, District Judge.

Presently before this Court is the Defendant's Motion to Dismiss the Amended Complaint pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) (lack of subject matter jurisdiction). For the reasons set forth below, the Motion is denied.

I. BACKGROUND

A. Factual Background

Title XIX of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1396 et seq., establishes the federal Medical Assistance program. The program is a cost sharing arrangement between the states and the federal government, whereby the federal government reimburses some state expenses if a state elects to provide financial assistance to those individuals whose incomes and resources are insufficient to cover the costs of their medical care. 42 U.S.C. § 1396, Am. Compl. ¶¶ 20-21. Pennsylvania has chosen to participate in the program and has adopted a state plan pursuant to the federal regulations. Id. at ¶ 24.

Under the program, state expenses for nonresidential community-based services are not automatically part of the cost sharing arrangement. Id. at ¶¶ 25-28. States can obtain a "home and community-based services" ("HCB") waiver from the federal Health Care Financing Administration. 42 U.S.C. § 1396n(C). This waiver allows states to include services which prevent individuals from being institutionalized as Medical Assistance, and thereby receive additional reimbursement from the federal government. Id.

Pennsylvania applied for and received an HCB waiver. This waiver is known as Person/Family Directed Support ("P/ FDS") Waiver. Am. Compl. at ¶ 1. In Count I of the Amended Complaint, Plaintiff alleges that the Defendant has failed to fully implement the waiver. Id. at ¶¶ 35, 43-63. Count II contends that the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare ("DPW") violated federal regulations to furnish medical assistance with "reasonable promptness." Id. at ¶¶ 64-65. In Count III, Plaintiff alleges that the Defendant has failed to allow applications for services under the P/FDS Waiver. Id. at ¶¶ 66-68. Finally, Count IV asserts that the Defendant failed to allow for evaluations of individuals in violation of Title XIX. Id. at ¶¶ 69-70.

B. Procedural Background

This action commenced on August 24, 2000, by and on behalf of plaintiffs Derek DeLong, Mitchell Landsman, and Saul Vasquez. These three plaintiffs sought to have the case certified as a class action lawsuit. We denied this request in an order dated October 25, 2000. We allowed the parties ninety days to conduct additional discovery as to whether the threshold requirements for the certification of a class action could be satisfied. This time period elapsed on January 23, 2001, and this Court has not been presented with any evidence that there is a group of plaintiffs who meet the threshold requirements for class certification.

While this action has been pending, Mr. DeLong, Mr. Vasquez, and Mr. Landsman, each became enrolled in and began receiving HCB waiver services under the P/FDS Waiver. On January 9, 2001, an Amended Complaint was filed. Mr. DeLong and Mr. Vasquez were dropped as plaintiffs apparently because they had become enrolled in and began receiving services under the P/FDS Waiver. Pl.'s Mem. at 3. Through the agreement of counsel, Pennsylvania Protection and Advocacy, Inc. (PP & A), was added. Def.'s Mem. at 2. The Defendants consented to the addition of PP & A on the express condition that they would retain the right to challenge the group's standing to bring this action. Id. Therefore, in the Amended Complaint, Mitchell Landsman, suing on his own behalf through his parents and without the aid of PP & A, became the sole individual alleging an injury in fact.

On February 9, 2001, the Defendant filed an uncontested motion seeking summary judgment as to Mr. Landsman's claims. The parties agreed that his claims were rendered moot by his enrollment in the P/FDS Waiver program on December 15, 2000. We granted this motion in an order dated February 14, 2001.

Thus, PP & A is now the sole plaintiff in this action. Although it is unclear from the face of the Amended Complaint, the Plaintiff argues in its Memorandum that it is suing both on its own behalf and as a representative suing on behalf of its constituents. Pl.'s Mem. at 10, 17. The Defendant moves for dismissal on the grounds that PP & A lacks standing.

C. Standard of Review

Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1) allows parties to file motions when a court's jurisdiction over the subject matter of the action is in question. A Rule 12(b)(1) motion may challenge jurisdiction based on the face of the complaint or its existence in fact. See Mortensen v. First Fed. Savings and Loan Ass'n, 549 F.2d 884, 891 (3d Cir.1977); Hunter v. United States, No. 3:CV-00-0036, 2000 WL 1880257, *3-4 (M.D.Pa. Dec. 15, 2000). A factual challenge occurs, when a party disputes the existence of certain jurisdictional facts alleged in the complaint. Carpet Group Int'l. v. Oriental Rug Imp. Ass'n, iNc., 227 F.3d 62, 69 (3d Cir.2000). In such a situation, the court is free to consider and weigh evidence outside the pleadings to resolve factual issues bearing on jurisdiction. 549 F.2d at 891, Gould Elecs., Inc. v. United States, 220 F.3d 169, 176 (3d Cir. 2000). Therefore, with a factual challenge, "no presumptive truthfulness attaches to plaintiff's allegations, and the existence of disputed material facts will not preclude the trial court from evaluating for itself the merits of jurisdictional claims." 549 F.2d at 891; Daily v. City of Philadelphia, 98 F.Supp.2d 634, 636 (E.D.Pa.2000). However, when the challenge is facial, the court must accept as true all well-pleaded allegations in the complaint and draw reasonable inferences in favor of the plaintiff. 549 F.2d at 891. This presumption of truthfulness does not force courts to credit "bald assertions," "unsupported conclusions," "unwarranted inferences," or "legal conclusions masquerading as factual conclusions." Morse v. Lower Merion School Dist., 132 F.3d 902, 906 (3d Cir.1997); Hunter, 2000 WL 1880257 at *3. Nor must a court presume that the plaintiff can prove facts it has not alleged. City of Pittsburgh v. West Penn Power Co., 147 F.3d 256, 263 (3d Cir.1998).

Regardless of whether the challenge is facial or factual, the plaintiff still bears the burden of persuasion. 549 F.2d at 891. Plaintiff is the one seeking to invoke the jurisdiction of this court, and it must demonstrate that the case is within our competence. Turner v. Bank of North America, 4 U.S. 8, 4 Dall. 8, 1 L.Ed. 718 (1799).

Plaintiff argues that the Defendant asserted a facial challenge to PP & A's standing.² Pl.'s Mem. at 9. Defendant's Memorandum contains no discussion of Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(1).³ However, the Memorandum does mention construing the complaint in the light most favorable to the Plaintiff. Def.'s Mem. at 3. This statement suggests that the Defendant's attack on jurisdiction is facial. See 549 F.2d at 891. The Defendant's Memorandum also only discusses the Amended Complaint. It mentions no facts outside of that document. See Sur Reply at 2 (attacking Plaintiff for going beyond the scope of the motion). Finally, PP & A was only added as a party to this litigation in January 2001, and there has not yet been much discovery from which the Defendant could have gathered facts. For these reasons, we will construe Defendant's challenge as a facial attack on PP & A's standing. See Gould, 220 F.3d at 176; Poling v. K. Hovnanian Enter., 99 F.Supp.2d 502, 515 (D.N.J.2000)(court determines whether a Rule 12(b)(1) motion attacks the complaint as deficient on its face or whether the motion attacks the existence of subject matter jurisdiction in fact); Hunter, 2000 WL 1880257 at *3 (the court decides how to treat a Rule 12(b)(1) motion).

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standing Generally

Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. We are empowered to hear only such cases as are within the judicial power of the United States, as defined in the Constitution, and entrusted to us by Congress. Const. Art. III, § 2 ("The judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution, the Laws of the United States, and Treaties made, or which shall be made, under their Authority"). This is typically referred to as the Constitution's "case or controversy" requirement. Raines v. Byrd, 521 U.S. 811, 818, 117 S.Ct. 2312, 138 L.Ed.2d 849 (1997). Standing is a judicial concept which addresses this constitutional requirement as well as prudential concerns. Warth v. Seldin, 422 U.S. 490, 497, 95 S.Ct. 2197, 45 L.Ed.2d 343 (1975). The constitutional requirements are immutable. Bennett v. Spear, 520 U.S. 154, 161, 117 S.Ct. 1154, 137 L.Ed.2d 281 (1997). They represent the absolute minimum which a plaintiff must show to bring their claim before a federal court. Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992). Even when these requirements are met, "a plaintiff may still lack standing under the prudential principles by which the judiciary seeks to avoid deciding questions of broad social import where no individual rights would be vindicated and to limit access to the federal courts to those litigants best suited to assert a particular claim." Gladstone, Realtors v. Village of Bellwood, 441 U.S. 91, 99-100, 99 S.Ct. 1601, 60 L.Ed.2d 66 (1979). These prudential limits are judicially imposed and Congress may override...